Reports: Geothermal startup lands money

Some of the biggest names in venture capital are backing a stealthy Seattle startup by the name of Altarock Energy whose goal is to tap geothermal energy as a new power source.

PEHub and VentureBeat are reporting the funding round at $4 million, with Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers and Khosla Ventures participating.

Those two firms have been active in the clean tech arena in Washington state recently, with Kleiner Perkins leading an $8.3 million investment in Seattle’s Verdiem and Khosla Ventures participating in a $9.5 million investment for Kennewick engine startup Infinia Corp.

Altarock is led by Susan Petty, a consultant at Seattle’s Black Mountain Technology. That company is described as a specialist in “geothermal consulting and GIS solutions.”

And speaking of alternative energy sources, P-I environmental reporter Lisa Stiffler discusses how the state will attempt to meet the goal of Initiative 937, which calls for the 17 largest utilities to generate 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Geothermal, solar and wind are just a few of the areas being explored, with a sidebar to the story saying that “the Northwest is an obvious spot to pursue geothermal power — so why haven’t we?”